Proteases are well-known enzymes, as are the advantages of applying them in production of fermentation products. Proteases have been isolated from various sources, including a number of fungal and bacterial strains.
It is an object of the present invention to provide alternative polypeptides having protease activity (protease variants) and polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. It is also an object of the invention to provide protease of improved properties as compared to the parent protease from which they were derived. The protease variants of the invention exhibit improved thermostability compared to the wild type parent protease.
WO 2003/048353 discloses the wildtype protease of Thermoascus aurantiacus CGMCC No. 0670.